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For those of you who don’t know, Nick and I went to Disney World earlier this month with his sister Bree and her husband Junior. Despite the fact that we were only in the parks for 4 days, we were able to squeeze in a lot of awesome experiences!
Now that I am deep in the throes of denial that I will probably not be back at Disney for quite a while, I thought it would be fun to reminisce about my favorite parts of our last trip. As someone who grew up going to Disney World, I have some classic favorites, but I also experienced several new attractions on this trip that I want to highlight!
Rides
It is SO hard to only choose three for this one! Disney has so many incredible rides, but I’ll do my best to narrow it down.
1. Expedition Everest (Animal Kingdom)-
In all honesty, Animal Kingdom used to be my least favorite park by far. It wasn’t even open the first time I went as a kid, and when it did open I just didn’t really think it was as fun as the other parks. Now I seriously love it, and the Expedition Everest roller coaster is probably my favorite ride in all of Disney World! We actually rode it 4 times in one day while we were there and I wish I could have gone on it even more! I love the thrill of this ride but also the fact that it is themed and has unexpected twists in it. Unlike Rockin’ Rollercoaster in Hollywood Studios (another favorite of mine), it’s outside which makes it fun because riding it during the day or at night feels like two totally different experiences.
2. Rise of the Resistance (Hollywood Studios- Galaxy’s Edge)-
This is the newest ride at Disney World as of February 2020, and actually kind of difficult to get on! As soon as it struck 8 a.m. (the time the park opened that day), we had to be in the park and on the MyDisney Experience App. You have to quickly log in and try to get your party a boarding group. We got ours within 2 minutes and we were already group 114! We even heard some around us got groups in the 300s or didn’t get one at all. They said that they would only call groups over 74 if time allowed. Thankfully, our number was called towards the end of the day and we got to experience this amazing ride, which was really more of a multi-part experience than simply a ride. The whole experience takes about 20 minutes because you get in several vehicles, interact with different characters, etc. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I definitely think this ride is a must-do, even if you aren’t that into Star Wars! I wouldn’t say it’s a thrill ride, but the ride is so immersive and well-done!
3. Slinky Dog Dash (Hollywood Studios)- I had really low expectations for this rollercoaster, but we rode it at night right at park closing and it was awesome! Not only was it all lit up, but you could see all of the different “lands” throughout the park from the ride. I also loved the theming: you are riding in a slinky dog through toys stacked up everywhere, and it is more thrilling (less of a “kiddie” ride) than I expected! I’m not sure if it would be quite as fun in the daytime, but we all really enjoyed it!
*RUNNER-UPS*
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (Magic Kingdom)- This is definitely the wildest ride in the wilderness, and a total Magic Kingdom classic! My favorite roller coaster at MK was always Space Mountain, but I seemed to favor the outdoor rides on this trip (probably because the weather in February is much different than my typical summer trips!). I think that if Splash Mountain hadn’t been closed for maintenance it might have been my choice, but Big Thunder is so much more fun than I remembered it and it is also a longer ride than Rockin’ Rollercoaster or Slinky Dog Dash (which also were big contenders for this list!).
Flight of Passage (Animal Kingdom)- This ride was also incredible and reminded me a lot of Soarin’ in Epcot or some of the Harry Potter rides in Universal. I know a lot of people say this is their favorite ride in Disney World now. It is really beautiful and immersive, but I’m not sure I enjoyed it as much as the Harry Potter rides because I’m not much of an Avatar fan. Fan or not, it’s definitely worth the long wait in line to experience!
Restaurants
1. Les Halles Boulangerie-Patisserie (Epcot- France Pavilion): If you think that name is a mouthful, just wait until you take a bite of this delicious croissant jambon fromage (ham and cheese croissant). I’m not joking when I say I will be dreaming of this breakfast/lunch menu item until the next time I cross the threshold of this cute little French bakery in Epcot. Nick and I have only been back for a week and have already tried (and sadly failed) to recreate this delicacy. They also serve a lot of desserts here, so we stopped by later in the evening and split chocolate mousse which was *almost* as addictive as the croissants, but not quite.
2. Via Napoli (Epcot- Italy Pavilion): Yes, another Epcot restaurant...let’s just say there is a reason why people wear shirts at Epcot that say “eating my way around the world.” This is primarily a wood-fired pizza restaurant, but with a really cool atmosphere. As in all pavilions at Epcot, the people working are actually from the country being represented. The waiters here have a reputation for being great, and ours was no exception! The food was absolutely amazing as well. It’s not a cheap pizza place, but to us the quality of the food, service, and atmosphere made it an awesome choice! If you want to eat here, I highly recommend getting a reservation as it is one of the most popular restaurants in Epcot.
3. Sci-fi Dine n’ Drive (Hollywood Studios):
Now, if you are looking for exotic cuisine, this is not the place for you. However, if you are interested in a delicious hamburger and fries while in a super themed atmosphere, then you will love it! This entire restaurant is made to look like you are at an outdoor drive-in movie in LA! They play cheesey old sci-fi movie clips and old cartoons while you sit in an old looking car that has been converted into a booth. Our waiter here was excellent and the food was really good. I think this would be a really fun experience for kids because it is not just a good meal but a really cool experience to feel like you are outside at night eating in a convertible! Definitely book a reservation ahead of time if you want to eat here because it is a very popular spot.
Shows
Because our trip was so short and I’m more of a ride person than a show person, we did not see nearly as many shows as I normally would. There are definitely other shows I love (Nemo, Little Mermaid, Indiana Jones, etc), but we just didn’t have time to do them all on this quick trip!
1. Happily Ever After (Magic Kingdom)- If you are a Disney movie fan, you might get choked up at times during this nighttime show. They project movie clips on to the castle while music plays all around you and fireworks go off in the background. It’s honestly hard to describe this show because it is so magical! It looks like the castle is moving and changing because of the projections dancing across it! This is something everyone who goes to Disney World should experience!
2. Festival of the Lion King (Animal Kingdom)- I’ve always loved this show, especially because Lion King was my favorite movie as a kid (I may or may not have watched it three times in the movie theatre). What I love about this show is that it has a little bit of everything: humor, singing, dancing, gymnastics/trapeze shows, and fire/sword dancing. Best of all, there is a lot of audience participation because it’s in a round theater where the audience surrounds the actors. There’s really not a bad seat in the house! It always looks like the line is forever long to this show, but the theater seats a ton of people and it’s definitely worth your time to check it out!
3. Beauty & The Beast Live on Stage (Hollywood Studios)- This show is a classic and one I knew I had to see! Belle has always been my favorite princess and I grew up going to this show in the summers we went to Disney. It’s basically the stage version but condensed down to only 30 minutes. It’s also in a very large theatre so you are almost guaranteed a seat unless you show up after the show starts. My recommendation is to go earlier in the day because if you go to a later show you will most likely be sitting directly in the sun for 30 minutes due to the angle the light comes in! We were a little toasty and it was in February!
Special Experiences
1. Attending an After Hours Party at one of the parks- This is a three hour event that takes place--you guessed it--after park hours. Unlike the “Extra Magic Hours” which are included for all resort hotel guests, this is a capped attendance, separately ticketed event. Basically, a limited amount of tickets are sold so that you can virtually walk on to every ride for three hours with no wait. The first time I heard about these After Hours parties, I was a little scared by the price tag. Afterall, it is a three hour event that costs more than a full day in the park. However, it is well worth the money!
First of all, they actually let you in the park about 2 hours before the event begins even if you don’t have a regular park ticket for that day. That means you can go catch the fireworks show before the event starts. Also, this event includes unlimited snacks, bottled soft drinks, and mickey ice cream bars and sandwiches! Nick and I had an amazing time and got to walk onto rides three times in a row that normally have a 2 hour wait! We went to Magic Kingdom and were able to ride *almost* everything, but we chose to take time for snacks and to re-ride our favorites. I plan on doing a full review of this eventually!
2. Be Our Guest (Magic Kingdom)
Okay, so I know this is technically a restaurant, but I think most people go here more for the ambiance and experience than for the food itself. I personally found the food to be kind of “meh” (not terrible, but nothing great), but the building inside is so beautiful it’s worth getting a reservation just to see it! This restaurant is themed after the castle in Beauty & the Beast so you have the opportunity to eat in the ballroom of the castle! The nice thing about this restaurant is that for breakfast and lunch it is considered a quick service meal so it’s not as expensive and you don’t have to pay a tip as you seat yourself. You will feel like you have been transported to a castle in France, complete with snow falling outside of the ballroom windows!
3. Pick-a-pearl (Japan pavilion- Epcot): I’m not a huge souvenir person at Disney World. Don’t get me wrong, as a kid I wanted everything I saw...but now I am a little more picky with what I want to spend my money on. We ended up getting a couple of cute mugs and trading pins, but I never found a shirt or other souvenir I wanted. For one of my souvenirs, however, I did the pick-a-pearl experience at Epcot. I had never heard of this until I saw one of my favorite bloggers/vloggers do it on her trip to Disney a few years ago. Basically, you pick out an oyster from tanks in front of you, and they do a little “show” opening the oyster, getting out the pearl, cleaning it and measuring it. They have you count down in Japanese with them for the big “reveal”, and the women who run it are so enthusiastic which makes it really fun! You get to either just take your pearl home as it is, or choose a setting for it. The experience to pick a pearl itself is under $20, which I think is pretty reasonable for Disney! The settings are anywhere from $20-$100+ depending on what you choose. I really enjoyed getting a souvenir and an experience all in one!
As I said, there are many other rides, restaurants, shows, and special experiences at Disney World that are worthy of a list like this, but these are a few of my favorites from our most recent trip. If you are planning a Disney trip I would highly recommend doing everything on this list and more! I’m already looking forward to our next trip...whenever that will be :)
-Katie
PS: What are your favorite things to do in Disney World? Tell me in the comments!